The Withered Rose and The Blooming Flower
by OwlTurtle-San
Summary: Anna was just a young gardener who loved to help, but The Queen saw more in her. Now she's stuck with a grumbling gentleman who's the wilting rose she has to care for. (Lame summary, I guess it's an okay story. Not sure if I want it to be a romance or just a friendship between England and main character. EnglandxOC Read for fun. Rated T to be safe.)


A Gardener overlooked the green, luscious bushes and trees of flowers and fruits. Her dark, deep sky blue eyes twinkling with delight. There was a splash of freckles on her pudgy nose, like someone took a brush with a little bit of black paint and swished it across the top of her cheeks. Her pale skin helped show off more of the similar spots that dotted here and there on her arms. Despite being younger than most of the other workers, she managed to get her by pure luck of her knowledge of gardening from her father and looking much older than she really was by her height.

"Anna!" I voice called, surprising the girl enough to nearly make her topple off the ladder she was on. "Get your head out of the clouds, girl!"

It was The Head Gardener of The Royal Garden, Luisa Tippet. Many called her Ms. Tippet, however, as many of the workers were younger than her. She was a bit on the plump, short side. Straight, short, red hair came down from her ginger head.

"Sorry, Ma'am." Anna replied. She carefully climbed down the ladder, hopping to the ground the last few rungs, and gave Ms. Tippet one of her white, toothy grins. "I guess the beauty of the garden gets to my head a little."

The older woman shook her head and gave a tsking sound. "I wonder how you do it, Anna. Such a young woman like you living alone...not to mention working your bum off. You can have days off, you know."

"But I don't want to!" Anna said, spreading her arms wide. "There's plenty of work to do here and people need my help. I can't ever be so selfish to take a day off to myself."

"There's difference between being selfish and having no time to yourself. Not to mention you're gettin a bit sloppy in your work because you're so tired." Tippet poked a slightly noticeable greying bag under Anna's eye. With a sigh, the Head Gardener pushed a few utensils into the younger girl's hands. "But if you're so willing to help, take these back to the greenhouse."

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!" Anna broke into another smile, giving a goofy salute before she ran off; The Head Gardener was left shaking her head at the girl's antics.

The mossy like grass felt nice under the soles of her converse as Anna sprinted her way to the greenhouse. She hardly walked anywhere, but instead ran. The feeling of the sweet wind in her face and the bright sun glinting down on her felt good. It was much better than the day before when there was a storm.

Today everyone was called in to help clean up. No one had bothered to call for Anna. Everyone knew that the young gardener was here everyday, helping everyone. She was given the job was maintaining the plants inside the castle as well as out, but even though that was her job she helped the maids make the beds and fetch some water from the old well outside. The maid's knew they could depend on her to help with anything.

"G'day, Miss Anna!" Old Man Benjamin Potts tipped his newsboy hat to her as she ran past him replace all the pots on the side of the castle.

"Good morning, Mister Potts!"She hollered back in reply.

With the greenhouse only a few paces away, Anna slowed down, reaching the door and pulling it open.

"Y-You're majesty!" She yelped a little in surprise at the most important woman in England, who's face appeared as soon as Anna had opened the door. She immediately gave a small bow of to the Queen, receiving a smile in return.

"Oh, hello there." The shorter woman smiled. "Don't mind us, go on with your work."

Us? Anna realized their was a younger man in the room. He had a mop of blonde hair on his head and green eyes that matched the leaves in the garden, bushy brows settling themselves above them. He had a more serious face than the queen. Well...not exactly serious, but scowling at Anna. There was something in those eyes. Like he's seen many things, been a lot of places….like he's been through a lot of pain.

Feeling a bit nervous and sheepish for staring at him, Anna gave a quick smile. "I'm so sorry for interrupting, I'll be leaving in a bit." She showed them the tools in her hands and started making her way to a toolbox on the ground."It's a beautiful today, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Certainly better than the horrible weather we had the past few days." The Queen agreed. She seemed to enjoy the conversation, so the young girl decided to chat some more while she put the tools in their right places.

"It's a good thing the new roses are inside. The storm would have ruined the sproutlings."

"How are the roses outside doing?" A new voice perked up. Anna lifted her head, realizing that the blond man had spoken up.

"They're fine! Doing, better actually." Anna stood up from kneeling down and slapped the toolbox shut. "I think the storm gave them more water than they have been getting. Whoever was watering them wasn't giving them enough, I think. Some were wilting…" She trailed off as she noticed a single pot of roses in a small canopy basket above them, frowning in disapproval.

"See? That ones starting to wilt." She pointed, looking around a room for a ladder and found one. Grabbing it, she climbed up and brought it down for The Queen and her companion to see. She poked at one that was drooping slightly, not that significant, but slightly. "The soils dry...it needs more water."

"You notice a wilting flower?" The queen spoke lowly, Anna nearly missed it.

"...Yeah. That's my job. To notice it and help it." The gardener replied softly, looking at the blond man who had begun poking at some other flowers. Wilting…

"May I ask your name?" The Queen suddenly piped into a cheery tone.

"I'm Anna. Just simple, plain Anna. No last name. Just Anna." She grinned and tipped her gardener's hat a smidge."Nice to meet you, your majesty."

"And I you." The Queen's smile was growing more and more joyful. Snatching the young man's arm, she pulled him in front of her. "Arthur, wouldn't you like to meet Anna?"

The surprised look on Arthur's face slowly twisted into a frown. He sighed, putting forth his hand to Anna so she can shake it.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Anna." He said, even though he didn't seem to be pleased at all.

"Believe me," Anna said, smiling brightly but couldn't help that her tone sound a bit insulted. "The Pleasure is all mine."

The Queen grabbed both of their arms, dragging her along with them.

"Come along with us, Anna. I have a new job for you."

Author's Note: Yeah...Just a random story I came up with. I was inspired by this photo saying that nobody notices a wilting rose with a pics of England. I hope you liked it. Please point out if there's any typos, I tried to edit it as much as I could, but I probably was tired while writing it and I've found things that sound weird in it...so that would be a lot of help! Comment if you have ideas with what could happened because I love getting other's feedback and ideas for my stories! Or you can just comment. Those are very appreciated. Thank you for reading this once again.


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